" > writes:

> I recently spoke with a Taiwanese tea merchant. Although hard to
> understand, he made several interesting comments. One is that you have
> to distinguish between the green, oolong, and black tea "process" and
> the green, oolong, and black tea "tree." Most Taiwanese tea, he told
> me, comes from the "green process" of an "oolong tree." I assume he
> means that their tea is relatively unoxidized and comes from a varietal
> of Camellia sinensis typically used to make oolong tea.
>
> Does that make sense?

Yes, although I don't think he meant that the process mainly used in
Taiwan with oolong varietals is exactly the same as what's used to
manufacture green tea. Rather, I think he meant that they typically
apply high heat to stop the enzymatic oxidation of the leaf before the
oxidation exceeds 25% or so.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html